Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

PITTSBURGH,
PENNSYLVANIA--A group of workers at United Parcel Service Inc. have filed a
lawsuit claiming the world's largest package-delivery service discriminates
against them in violation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

Attorneys with the law firm Scott & Scott LLC, which is filing the
suit, are seeking class action status, which they say could effect tens of
thousands of employees and cost UPS millions of dollars.

The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, against
the Atlanta-based company.

According to Bloomberg and Reuters news services, the suit alleges,
among other things, that UPS requires workers returning from a medical leave of
absence to first provide a "full" medical release. Employees that experience
permanent disabilities are not allowed to come back to a job which could be
made to accommodate their disabilities.

The plaintiffs also claim the company fails to determine what work the
employees can do, instead conducting what they call "sham" investigations that
lead directly to determinations that the person simply cannot work.

The plaintiffs want the court to stop UPS from violating the ADA, and
require it to adopt new policies that prohibit discrimination based on
disability.

"This case is about protecting workers' federally recognized rights and
ensuring that injured workers have a job to return to," Anita Laing, a lawyer
for Scott & Scott, said in a statement.

A UPS spokesman told Bloomberg the company does not require workers to
be able to perform 100 percent of their jobs before they are allowed to resume
work. Instead, Malcolm Berkley said, the company requires workers to perform
just the essential functions of a job.

Last month, a separate legal team, lead by the American Association for
People with Disabilities, filed a different discrimination lawsuit against UPS.

In that case, AAPD claimed the company has illegally terminated hundreds
of employees because it did not approve of their prescription medications.

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.